Trigger at Timeline Start <slide> compared to Trigger at Timeline Start <object>

Hi Stanton!  From a design perspective, you might want a trigger to fire at the same time as an object appears on the slide.  You can scoot your objects down the timeline to appear a bit later than at the beginning of the slide.

This article has some best practices when applying timeline of an object trigger.  Hope that helps a bit! :)

Timeline Start <object> is pretty useful to start an object on a motion path when it appears.

Thanks for the responses. I'm not sure I was able to explain my question very well. Possibly you did understand Walt, but I have used motion paths a fair bit but never with anything other than a Slide being in the Object field.

In these two example, I am exiting the program when timeline ends. The Object in the first one is an object that resides on the slide.

My question is two fold. Is there any time when the first example actually does anything. Or, whenever "When timeline begins" the thing that must go into the Object window is the Slide itself. And if this is the case, why is it even possible to program this.

Hope that is a bit more information.

Thanks,

Stanton

When you say "first example," are you referring to your trigger "exit course when timeline starts on rectangle?"  The intention to set a trigger this way will rest on the instructional designer's shoulders; the object could be an off-stage object, or they might have a variable or another trigger attached to that object that would make ending the course when that object appears relevant to their needs.

As far as "when timeline begins on the Slide x.x," triggers to change states (especially with player navigation), to jump to another slide immediately, to adjust variables, etc, often fire when the timeline starts on a slide.

Again, I think these are the designers' choices, and we just offer choices to create triggers to match their imaginations.

Thanks Crystal. No these were just  random examples or the "When Timeline Begins" or "When Timeline Ends" or "When Timeline Reaches" selections on the trigger dialog box.

My questions is more related to the detail that is placed in the Object field in the trigger dialog box.

The field allows:

1. The current slide name
2. An object on the slide.

1.  works great and I have no issues with this and have years of experience using this in many different ways.

2. However, I don't think I have ever had any success having an object in that field. And my question is - Is there EVER a time you would have an object on the slide (or anything other than the current slide name) in the Object field of a "When Timeline Begins" or "When Timeline Ends" or "When Timeline Reaches" trigger.

And if not, why is this even possible to program?

I knew this would be hard to explain... :-)

Thanks,

Stanton

I just re-read your answer... an you may have answered my question...

I think you are saying: Yes, there are situations where an object can be in that field. The purpose of doing so is different to situations where the slide appears in that field.

I'd love to see an example.

Thanks again.

Stanton

I think the situation when you would want the object in that field is when the object appears at a point other than the beginning of the slide timeline. It is a way of tying an action to that appearance and changing it without re-writing a trigger.

For example: A motion path defaults to begin when the object's timeline starts. If you leave it that way, and need the object to appear at a different time, you can just drag it on the slide timeline, and the motion will begin at that point. If the motion path is set to begin at a point on the slide timeline, then to change it, you need to drag the object AND change the trigger to fire at the new time.

Thank Walt.